Two large offshore wind farm projects located on the Pohjalahti coast have progressed to the EIA phase.
Kokkola and Pietarsaari demand clarifications to the EIA programs of the two giant offshore wind farms. Parks are planned for the suburbs of both cities, about 30 kilometers from the coast.
Skyborn Renewables Offshore Finland plans 120 offshore power plants in its Reimari project. The maximum height of the power plants would be 390 meters.
Electricity transmission would take place from the sea with cable and pipe lines and on the mainland with overhead lines. In Kokkola, the lines would land in Kvikanti or Puotiniemi. In Pietarsaari, on the other hand, in the Alholma industrial area or Storlöten.
About 150 power plants would be coming to the OX2 company’s wind farm. The distance to the lighthouse island Tankari, for example, is about 30 kilometers.
In his statement to Ely, Kokkola believes that both projects can have significant environmental impacts on underwater nature and bird life.
Kokkola considers the effects on birds made in the EIA program of the Reimari park project to be scarce.
For example, the effect of power plant lights on birds and the potential risk of collisions are better estimated. The effects of construction on migratory fish must also be investigated more carefully, as well as the traces left on underwater nature by, for example, cabling and laying.
Pietarsaari, on the other hand, wants, among other things, more comprehensive studies of the abundant flying squirrel sightings made along the electricity transmission routes in Pörkenäs.
Kokkola: Power lines redden the Sokoja field landscape
In addition, Kokkola criticizes the OX2 company’s Laine wind farm’s electricity lines and tall poles spoiling the village landscape of Sokoja. The expanding power line corridor would be visible in a scenically valuable open field on all sides of the village.
The Sokoja field area has been designated as a valuable cultural landscape area by the plan.
There would also be negative effects on the agricultural industry. The rows of columns in the widening cableway would make it difficult to cultivate fields and move around with agricultural machinery.
The two wind farms planned for the open sea in Kokkola, Pietarsaari and Uudenkaarlepy are gigantic projects, worth up to billions of euros. Hydrogen production is also planned for the parks.
The construction work of offshore wind farms in the southern Pärämere is estimated to start at the end of the decade.